Hitachi Acquires Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma Display Shares and Patents
TOKYO - March 25, 2005 - Hitachi, Ltd. today reached an official agreement with Fujitsu Limited concerning Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma Display Limited (FHP), a joint venture of the two companies, in accordance with a basic agreement signed on February 2, 2005. Under the agreement, both companies will provide financial assistance to FHP and Hitachi will acquire some of Fujitsu's shareholding in FHP and Fujitsu patents relating to plasma display panel (PDP) technology.
The main details of the agreement signed today are as follows:
- Hitachi and Fujitsu will provide financial assistance to FHP through an injection of additional equity.
- Hitachi will acquire 30.1% of FHP's issued shares from Fujitsu, giving Hitachi an 80.1% stake in FHP.
- Hitachi will acquire PDP module patents owned by Fujitsu.
FHP will become a subsidiary of Hitachi after the share transaction. Furthermore, Mr. Yoshiyuki Imoto, currently COO of Hitachi's Ubiquitous Platform Systems, is to become FHP's president. There will be no change to FHP's name following the purchase of these shares.
By more tightly integrating their strategies, Hitachi and FHP will focus on developing business and expanding markets for products that make for a rich ubiquitous information society such as through the provision of the world's most advanced PDPs and plasma TVs.
About Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company, with approximately 326,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2003 (ended March 31, 2004) consolidated sales totaled 8,632.4 billion yen ($81.4 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors, including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's Web site at http://www.hitachi.com .